PATRIOTS NOTEBOOK: Bennett hoping to return in 2017

Acquired from Chicago in the last year of his contract, tight end Martellus Bennett says he'd like to remain with the Patriots next season.

Glen Farley The Enterprise @GFarley_ent

FOXBORO – Encore?

Things may very well change when his representatives sit across from the Patriots brass at the negotiating table, but tight end Martellus Bennett made it clear on Thursday that he’d like to return to the team next season.

“Oh, yeah. I love it here,” Bennett said. “We’ll figure it out when it’s time to figure it out. My family loves it here. I love being part of this team, this organization and this city, so when it comes around, it comes around.

Acquired from Chicago along with a 2016 sixth-round draft pick in exchange for a fourth-round choice, Bennett came to New England on the last year of a contract that paid him a base salary of $5.085 million this season.

A nine-year veteran with his fourth team (Dallas, the New York Giants and the Bears previously), Bennett has proven to be well worth the trade and the investment for a team that’s earned the top seed in the AFC playoffs.

Playing through ankle and shoulder injuries to appear in all 16 of the Patriots’ regular-season games, the 29-year-old Bennett caught 55 passes for 701 yards with a team-leading seven touchdown receptions and proved to be a more-than-willing (and capable) blocker.

With four-time Pro Bowler Rob Gronkowski’s placement on the injured reserve list last month following back surgery leaving first-year man Matt Lengel as the only other tight end on the depth chart, Bennett’s value to the Patriots only figures to increase in the upcoming playoffs.

In a sense, then, this is the calm before the storm for Bennett, the Patriots’ playoff bye giving them an abbreviated week of practice (players aren’t due back at Gillette Stadium until next week now) in preparation for a divisional-round opponent that won’t be known until the weekend’s conference wild-card games are played.

“It’s the bye week right now, so I’m just chillin,’” said Bennett. “So I just save my energy, build up as it goes on. There’s no reason to have a lot of highs and lows this week.

“So just trying to have good focus on practice and get better this week, take some time off, and see what I can do to make the team better for the next game because we don’t know who we’re playing so it’s hard to get excited by ghosts. But for overall, I’m just chillin.’”

In Law’s corner: Patriots head coach Bill Belichick is in Pro Football Hall of Fame finalist Ty Law’s corner.

“Great player,” Belichick said of the cornerback, who played for the Pats from 1995-2004. “No weaknesses in Ty’s game. Strong, physical tackler, (could) jam receivers, good coverage player, great hands, interceptor.”

Fifteen finalists are vying to become members of the Hall of Fame’s Class of 2017, to be announced in Houston on Feb. 4 on the eve of Super Bowl LI.

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